The Hard Life of Minorities

“I have experienced about eight attacks and have moved places many times,” said Syahidin at the end of November last year. Syahidin, a follower of the Ahmadiyya Congregation, one of the minority Muslim groups in Indonesia, was recalling the plight that has brought him to the Transito Dormitory complex.

He and his family are one of 35 Ahmadi families—about 127 people in total—living in the government-sponsored dormitory in Jalan Transito, Majeluk, Mataram City, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB). This complex was built originally to house families before they move to the transmigration locations during the New Order era. 

Coming from Sambik Elen, North Lombok, Syahidin and family were part of a small community of Ahmadis that were cast out of their village because of a mob attack that left one Ahmadi dead in 2001 for alleged heresy.

But that was not the last of it. They had to move to several places because persecution seemed to follow them wherever they went. Eventually, Syahidin and his family decided to stay in the refugee shelter, Transito Dormitory, where they had been living since 2006. Today, they are still waiting for the government to allow them to move out and live in their own homes, surely with security guarantees. 

Another minority Muslim community, the Shias, have also experienced persecutions. Hatimah, Umi Kulsum, Rizkiatul Fitriyah or Fitri, and about 66 other former Shia families currently live in the Puspo Agro Apartment in Jemundo, Sidoarjo, East Java, after being driven out of their homes in Sampang, East Java, 10 years ago.

Like Syahidin, they are also victims of persecution because of their faith. Umi Kulsum and Fitri still remember the incident that took place in August 2012, when the mobs attacked their houses and other Shia families’ homes in Nangkernang, Sampang. “We hid in the field, some hid near the river,” said Umi Kulsum. About 48 houses were damaged by the attack, and one Shia resident was killed. After staying at the sports building in Sampang for almost a year, they eventually moved to Puspo Agro until now.

According to Syera Anggreini Buntara, a researcher of religious freedom at the SETARA Institute, Ahmadiyya, particularly the Indonesian Ahmadiyya Congregation community, is the religious group most victimized by acts of intolerance and discrimination in Indonesia, followed by Christians. 

From 2007 to 2021, SETARA recorded 586 cases of violations of freedom of religion and belief against the Ahmadis. Persecutions on Shias, on the other hand, mostly happen around the Asyura celebration, the day of mourning for the martyrdom of Husayn ibn Ali, the son of Ali ibn Abi Thalib, who the Shias believe to be the rightful successor of the Prophet Muhammad as a leader. 

SETARA also mentioned that discriminative and intolerant practices against the Ahmadis are structural in nature. There are 71 regulations in the national and local levels that promote restrictions towards the Ahmadiyya community.

The government has been slowly addressing the problem faced by the Ahmadis. In addition to receiving social aid and residency administration, Ahmadi refugees in Lombok, such as Syahidin, are in the process of getting assistance in the form of home construction, with the requirement to own land under their own name. 

Ahmadi refugees from the 2018 East Lombok incident experienced quite a different treatment. The government of East Lombok Regency and West Nusa Tenggara Province intervened swiftly. Within two years, those displaced Ahmadis had occupied new houses. “I issued an emergency response decree, so that I could disburse unexpected costs. The handling was faster,” said the Head of the West Nusa Tenggara Social Service, Ahsanul Khalik, who at the time of the incident was an acting regent of East Lombok. But due to Covid-19, the regional budget was spent to mitigate the pandemic leaving the housing project for the remaining Ahmadi refugees halted. This caused the central government to intervene.

In Sampang, Regent Slamet Junaedi, is also busy helping the Shia refugees in Sidoarjo, by expediting their residence paperwork. Since taking office in 2019, he has been determined to solve the Shia refugees’ troubles. 

“Our principle is to humanize them. Whatever their form, whatever their ideology, whatever their belief…because they are part of the people of Sampang,” he said.

In 2020, the majority of Shia refugees in Puspo Agro pledged allegiance to Sunni. Two years later, 14 families were able to return home to Sampang.

However, there is more work for the government as many former Shia families in Puspo Agro are still waiting to return to their land in Sampang. 

Hundreds of Ahmadis are also still living in Transito and other temporary shelters. “(We are waiting) until the government says we can live in our own homes,” said Syahidin. “And, a security guarantee is the most important thing for us.” 

This story was produced with support from the Round Earth Media Program of the International Women's Media Foundation.